In the opening chapter of the Scots Confession, the Reformers fixed our eyes on the incomprehensible majesty of the Triune God. Having established the Creator, they immediately pivot in Chapter 2 to the pinnacle of His earthly creation. In a single, breathtaking paragraph, the “Six Johns” cover the entire trajectory of early human history. They… Continue reading Image and Treason: On the Creation and Fall of Man (Scots Confession, Chapter 2)
Category: Scots Confession
To Whom Only We Must Cleave: On God and His Providence (Scots Confession, Chapter 1)
When we open the great confessions of the Reformation, we often find a distinct difference in where they choose to begin. The Westminster Confession of Faith, written nearly a century later in a highly scholastic era, begins with epistemology, how we know what we know, by dedicating its entire first chapter to the Holy Scriptures. But the earlier,… Continue reading To Whom Only We Must Cleave: On God and His Providence (Scots Confession, Chapter 1)
We Have Chief Respect to Our Weak Brethren: On the Preamble to the Scots Confession
As I have studied of historical theology, I have observed a tendency among modern Reformed men to view our confessional documents in a highly sanitized, academic light. We look at the leather-bound volumes on our shelves and subconsciously imagine that they were handed down from heaven, or at least drafted in comfortable, oak-paneled libraries by… Continue reading We Have Chief Respect to Our Weak Brethren: On the Preamble to the Scots Confession
Before Westminster: An Introduction to the Scots Confession of 1560
Modern Reformed Christians are often deeply familiar with the Westminster Standards (originating in 1640s England) and the Three Forms of Unity (originating in the continental Reformation). These documents are masterpieces of theological precision and continue to serve as the bedrock for conservative Presbyterian and Reformed denominations today. But what did Reformed Christians believe before Westminster? There is… Continue reading Before Westminster: An Introduction to the Scots Confession of 1560